My First EGG!!

Portrait of My First Chicken Egg hatched myteriously by one of my ladies on Hallloween Portrait 2 of my first egg Portrait of My first Egg born on Halloween 2010

So YES! My first egg came on HALLOWEEN :)) My only sadness is that I don't know which of my 12 ladies gave me the gift of this beautiful egg. I wish I did, just so I could thank her, maybe with a strawberry (they are WILD about strawberries). Fertilized or not, I think giving away your eggs can't be completely easy. I love my girls so and I'm learning so much from them. But, I'm scared to eat the egg- I read somewhere that the first few eggs wouldn't be worth much-that they would be small, shaped awkward and possibly even wonky looking...but this looks like perfection. If there are any chicken raisers out there that can give me more tips I would LOVE THEM!!!

which of these lovely ladies laid the first egg, If I only knew??

Life with the Ladies in the Chicken Coop

Time for a long awaited chicken coop update!

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Coming Home to Chick Coop Dreams

While I was away my amazing husband printed out my coop design plans and got to work making the fairytale-cottage-coop dream, a reality.

Obviously, we're still not done, but all my hub did on his own is absolutely stunning :))

I'm in awe of it every morning when I look out my bedroom window to my yard.

Since I've been home we got the run built and added a roosting pole into both the coop n run, the quirky 20-something yr. ol' (7-8wk old) chicks love it! and So do my babies Chulo and Chica!

What's left to do:
Well I already ordered the small operable window and that should be arriving later this week.
We're going to place it on the front rightside of the coop.
Then I'm going to make shutters & a window flower box.
Siding n lots of paint.
Inside- we're adding 2 more roosting poles and insulating the inside walls in Sept.
A few nesting boxes still need doors and the run/coop door needs a pulley system...
then I think we can call it done. Hooray!

Starting with Raising Chickens

Opening the Package from MyPetChicken.com Brooder Introduction Beginning to Eat Meet Colina Meet Varaka

Getting Ready to Raise Some Chickens!

As soon as my seniors graduate this year I am going to console my achy breaky heart by beginning a new venture - Raising Chickens! I've given this a whole lot of thought for almost a year now and it took about a year and half of convincing my hub!

Keeping Pet Chicken by William Windham & Joe Stahlkuppe

Thanks to an awesome informative site like My Pet Chicken and one spontaneous episode of Martha Stewart on raising chickens when both the hub and I happened to be home and watching...the decision has been finalized.

As of two minutes ago - I just clicked purchase and have placed an order with MyPetChicken for a dozen chicks (knowing I will most likely have only 8-10 to raise since they all don't always make it). They are scheduled for shipping on June 7th and graduation is June 6th.

One of the great aspects of this venture is that I'm a blogger - so if you ever wondered if you could venture into raising chickens you can follow this chicken novice (moi) here on my blog- from delivery, to creating the initial brooder to building a coop - in June its all going to happen right here!

Now check out the new soon to be members of my fam:

4 Easter Eggers - ©2005-2010 MY PET CHICKEN, LLC. 2 SL Wyandottes ©2005-2010 MY PET CHICKEN, LLC. 2 RhodeIlse Reds ©2005-2010 MY PET CHICKEN, LLC. 2 Australorps ©2005-2010 MY PET CHICKEN, LLC. 2 Buff Orpingtons as Chicks ©2005-2010 MY PET CHICKEN, LLC.

All the chickens will arrive as 72 hour old chicks, and I am so excited and nervous (whenever another living creature is involved I think its wise to be a bit of both).

I can't wait to start building the coop. I found another blogger that is a serious inspiration for a beginning chicken caretaker like me- her blog is Vintage Garden Gal and I urge you to check out her stunning coops!

You know with the bee-keeping laws lifted off of NYC and quite a few people finding creative ways to raise chickens in urban dwellings - it seems remiss to not utilize my Jersey yard like this! The hub and I have decided this is the BEST anniversary gift, one that keeps on giving!

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Ciao Amarettogirl